Jacqueline Groot wrote: Hi, Carp- This may seem like an old-fashioned solution, but have you considered getting a few cats? My cats don't let anything live in my yard, Well I don't know about your cats.. but I've had problems with cats eating the whole chile plant.. When there are cats about in my experience, I don't get chiles because the plants don't last long enough to produce chiles! They seem to think my young chile plants are catnip as they have eaten them down to the ground! Fortunately that problem has been mostly solved by my dogs. They keep cats out of my garden. Since there are no gophers (the animal kind..not the human kind) in this area, I can't offer help there. Coyote Howlin for Habaneros